A/N: Eighteen-year-old Smith College student Cristina Yang meets 26-year-old medical resident Dr Owen Hunt in the emergency room at Mass Gen
"Gosh, Cristina, this night has been the pits," Eileen said to her friend, Cristina as they sat in the emergency room at the hospital.
"I wonder how much longer we will have to wait here," Cristina asked. Her ankle was really starting to ache, now. She and Eileen had been waiting 45 minutes in the emergency room.
A nurse came out and started calling names. "Cristina Yang, Room 1. Jorge Javier Santos, Room 2. Lorna Jordan, Room 3."
"That's us," Eileen said, as she helped Cristina to the first bed.
Resident Dr Owen Hunt was hoping that this would be his last patient of the day. He had worked a double shift in the emergency room and he was exhausted.
As he pushed aside the curtain, he saw a tiny Asian girl, with an obviously swollen ankle, accompanied by a tall, blonde friend. "Oh, she is a little cutie," he thought. "But way too young." She looked to be about 16 years old.
He checked the admittance form. She wasn't 16 but 18 years old. He didn't know why but somehow, that pleased him. "She's legal," he thought. "But still way too young."
"I am Dr Owen Hunt. I see you have had a spot of trouble with your ankle," he said.
"Cristina, I see you're a California girl. You're far away from home," he noted her permanent address in Beverly Hills, California. "I'm from the west coast, too. Seattle, originally. So what are you doing in Massachusetts?
Eileen interjected, "We're at school at Smith." She was shocked at how gorgeous this doctor was, with his red hair and bright blue eyes. Oh my, what a big, strapping specimen of a man, Eileen thought. She unconsciously started fixing her hair.
"Smith is in Northampton. So what are you girls doing in Boston?" Owen asked.
"We came for a concert. Then, we tried to get in a few bars but we couldn't get in. Me, I had no problem with my fake ID. But one look at Cristina, and they said that no way that she could be 21, so we got kicked out. We were taking the T back to the hotel and then she tripped coming off the train and twisted her ankle," Eileen said, eager to tell this handsome doctor about the night's events.
Cristina wished Eileen would quit talking, especially about the fake IDs. She glared at Eileen, who was still too busy, gaping at the good-looking doctor.
"She couldn't walk with the ankle and some guy picked her up and carried her out of the train station to a taxi, so we could get here. Then, the taxi driver carried her to the emergency room. She's so small, people have no problems, picking her up," Eileen started babbling.
Cristina wondered why Eileen could not shut her trap. She looked at her friend, who seemed to be in awe of this doctor. Cristina looked at him and silently agreed that he was good-looking in a rugged kind of way. He looked like he worked out because his body was pretty awesome, she noted.
Owen also wished Eileen would stop talking because he had yet to hear Cristina speak. He took her small foot into his hands and squeezed the ankle. "Ow," she cried, as a single tear rolled down her face.
"I don't think it's broken but we will take an x-ray to make sure," he said. He asked Eileen to step out as he used the portable x-ray. It was also because he wanted her to stop talking.
He gazed at her, as she lay down on the table. She had a full head of glossy, ebony curls, which framed her delicate features.
"Are you comfortable?" he asked.
"Yes," she said, quietly.
"While we wait for the films, let's have a little chat," he said.
"Okay," she said. He wished she would say more than one-word sentences.
"So why did you come all the way to Smith, instead of going to school in California?" he asked.
"I needed to get away from my overbearing mother," she said.
"I assume that is your emergency contact on this form. Helen Rubenstein," Owen said, perusing the admittance form.
"Yes, that is the wicked witch of the west," Cristina said, most seriously.
He had to laugh at that. In fact, he couldn't stop laughing. Cristina also broke out into a smile and then she started laughing, too.
It turned out that she didn't have a broken ankle, only twisted. He wrapped up the ankle, all the time, stealing glances at her.
"So how are you going to get back to your hotel?" he asked.
"We'll probably take a taxi back," she said.
"Well, I am off now. If you like, I can take you and your friend to your hotel," he said.
"You'll do that for us?" she was surprised. "Thank you, Dr Hunt."
"No problem. Let me get my things and I will bring round my car at the entrance and I will pick the both of you up," he said.
The ride to the hotel was too quiet so Owen decided to start a conversation. "So you're staying at the Four Seasons. That's a five star hotel. That's pretty impressive for two college students," he said.
"Oh," Eileen was quick to inform, "Cristina's family is R-I-C-H. Her stepdad is a big-shot oral surgeon in Beverly Hills. He gave her a credit card and she can spend whatever she wants on it, and he pays the bill."
He took a quick look at Cristina and she seemed embarrassed by Eileen's candor about her financial situation.
Cristina was glad that the ride was mercifully quick before Eileen revealed much more about her personal stuff in front of this stranger.
"How are you going to get to your room?" he asked.
"Eileen will help me. I will just hop on one leg," she said.
"Hold on, I will help you," he said. He ran over to the passenger side and gently picked Cristina up into his arms.
"Gosh darn it. Why couldn't I be the one with the twisted ankle?" Eileen thought.
He carried her up right up to their room and deposited her on her bed. He took the hotel note pad and wrote down his number. "If you're getting any pain, you can call me at this number," he told her. In reality, he just wanted to give her his phone number and hidden it under the guise of being a caring doctor.
"Do you need my phone number?" she asked.
"Sure, give it to me. I will give you a call next week to see how you're doing," he said, as he handed her the pad and pen. Inwardly, he smiled.
As he left, he tucked the piece of paper into the pocket of his coat jacket. He could not believe he had just exchanged phone numbers with an 18-year-old, whose hair smelled like orange blossoms. When he was carrying her, he had the impulsive thought of burying his face in her hair but he figured that would have been a little too forward. There was something about her he just couldn't resist. She was intoxicating.
Back in the room, Eileen screamed. "Oh my God, Cristina. That guy is so gorgeous. And he is smart, too. He's a doctor."
"Don't get so hyped up about it. That's right, he's a doctor. He must be around 25 or 26. That's way too old for you. He won't even give girls like us a second look," she said. "And he is probably used to girls putting out."
"Cristina, you're a virgin. I am not," Eileen said.
"Well, that's because I am very focused on my studies. Boys are such a distraction," Cristina said.
"Well, you have his phone number. Are you going to call it?" Eileen asked, excitedly.
"No, unless I am in pain. He was just being a good doctor, Eileen. I am not going to bother him about anything trivial," Cristina said. "Come on, let's get some sleep."
Meanwhile, Owen drove back to his apartment, which was a far cry from the Four Seasons Hotel. It was a simple one-bedroom apartment; it was the best he could afford in downtown Boston on his resident's salary. It didn't really matter anyway because he spent most of his time at the hospital.
As he lay on his bed, he had an internal conversation with himself, "What are you thinking, Owen? She's 18 years old. Just out of high school. And rich. Possibly even a virgin."
As he fell asleep, he started to dream of an Asian girl with raven curls and porcelain skin.
A/N: Since Owen and Cristina both went to school in the Massachusetts area, he to Harvard and she to Smith, I wondered what it would have been like if they had met years ago. I just felt that Mass Gen might have been a good place for him to do his residency. I hope you enjoyed it.
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